It is Ascension. Say "Hi" to the Angels.

One of the things that always stands out to me in the texts for this feast are the repeated statements that the angels were astonished to see a man of flesh enter heaven. It had never been done before. Yet that is exactly what happened when Jesus returned to his Father who who sent him.

"Having lived on earth as a man, you were taken up in glory today from the Mount of Olives. And having raised our fallen nature by your compassion, you seated it together with the Father. Wherefore, the heavenly orders of the Bodiless were amazed at the wonder and stood in awe and astonishment" (Great Vespers)

Glory to You, O God! Glory to You!

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Well, now that that little burst of emotionalism (give me a moment to wipe my tears) is past I do want to mention something that has been on my mind lately. For the last few days I've been looking at the icon of the Ascension and thinking about the Bible, and how we always read a text Christologically. (Reading a text Christologically is, by the way, the primary way Orthodox read all Scripture, both OT and NT. It's the way Jesus taught us to do it.) This might seem a little disjointed but here are some thoughts...

1. Strange sounding passages from the OT that are chanted during the services are interpreted either by other passages of scripture or by the hymns. For example, take this passages that is chanted during the Vigil.

"Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward [is] with him, and his work before him. And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken. Who [is] this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this [that is] glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore [art thou] red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people [there was] none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, [and] the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses. For he said, Surely they [are] my people, children [that] will not lie: so he was their Saviour. n all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old. (Isaiah 62:10-63:3,7-9)"

What does this have to do with the Ascenscion? That is what I asked the first time I heard it. I bet all Orthodox do. But we learn what it means from other parts of the service.

"Seeing you being taken up from the Mount of Olives, O Christ, the Powers cried one to another: Who is this? And it was said to them: This is He that is strong and mighty. This is He that is mighty in war. This is truly the King of Glory. And why are His garments red? Because he comes from Bozrah, which is the flesh." (Stricheron for Great Vespers)

2. But isn't it reaching to say we are ascended with Jesus? After all, he is in Heaven but we are on Earth. That is what I thought the first time I attended the Ascension services (Sadly, I am missing them all this year.) But consider this: "He who has been baptized into Christ has put on Christ." If we have put on Christ, and Christ is in Heaven, we, too, are in Heaven. We may not see it often, or clearly, we see as it were, "through a glass, darkly", but that does not make it untrue.

3. Saint Paul's presence in the Icon of the feast used to bug me. I mean, Icon's are supposed to be of historical events (Don't get me started on the Prodigal Son Icon!) but here is Saint Paul standing next to Mary (for those who don't know, St. Paul has a bald pate and dark beard). What is up with that?

Then I began thinking about what it means. And how we read the Bible. We do not invent new ways to read the Bible. We do not labour over interpretation. We would never wonder who the mountain in Daniel 2:45 is. We don't hesitate to say that passage from Isaiah is about Jesus Ascension (though it is about other things, too.) Why not? Because we have tradited the same Faith from then till now. That is the meaning of Saint Paul being in the Icon. Like St. Paul, we weren't there with the Church on that day, but in being made part of the Body we become, like Saint Paul, recipients and guardians of Tradition, not just of the facts of the faith but of the meaning of those facts and the interpretation of the Bible.